


speaking of marvels

by closingdoors



Series: Pepperony Week 2019 [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Pepperony Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-30 17:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20101261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/closingdoors/pseuds/closingdoors
Summary: Tony's already unwrapping the greasy food and shoving fries straight into his mouth. "You been on many dates to Burger King, Pepper?"She sighs. "This isn't a date. And I really wish you'd stop calling me that."Five times it wasn't a date and one time it was.Prompt: 5 + 1.





	speaking of marvels

Speaking of marvels, I am alive   
together with you, when I might have been   
alive with anyone under the sun.

**Alive Together, Lisel Mueller**

* * *

**One.**

She's been working for him for three weeks when they first spend time together outside of work.

True to his nature, it isn't planned. Happy picks them up after an eleven and a half hour flight directly from Japan back to Malibu. She's exhausted, stressed, and wants nothing more than to do a shot of tequila and fall into bed. Keeping up with Tony Stark for three days in a country she's never been to before has been a true test of strength.

And then he leans forward and asks Happy to pull over.

"We'll be back in an hour, Hap."

"No problem boss."

"Come on, Potts." 

"What?" Pepper gapes as Tony climbs out of the car. She scrambles after him. "Mr Stark - "

Her boss has already swanned away. Pepper narrowly avoids twisting her ankle as she speed walks after him in low heels she's still getting used to.

When she catches up, she finds him in front of a Burger King. He holds the door open for her and bows. 

"After you, Miss Potts."

She swallows down at least a dozen curse words, plasters on a docile smile, and steps inside. The place is practically empty, it's only eleven in the morning here, and Tony lopes through like he owns the place. He doesn't ask her what she wants and overpays their server before he ushers them to a booth wielding a tray of food. 

Tony's already unwrapping the greasy food and shoving fries straight into his mouth. "You been on many dates to Burger King, Pepper?"

She sighs. "This isn't a date. And I really wish you'd stop calling me that."

He wipes his greasy hands on his seven hundred dollar suit jacket that she'd had dry cleaned for him last night. She forces herself not to comment.

"So. This is normally the kinda time assistants quit." 

"Is that so," she says, keeping her voice neutral. If he's going to fire her, she's not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"Uh huh. We have a great severance package at Stark Industries. Obadiah can write you a glowing reference on my behalf. I hear many of my assistants go on to do great things." He pauses to pick the pickles from his burger. "So. Are you thinking about leaving?"

The severance package _is _great. It'd been outlined clearly in her contract, pointed out to her several times by one of Tony's attorney's and Obadiah Stane. She's pretty sure she could retire off of the money she'd get; relax on a hot beach somewhere instead of trying to swap the Sake in his hands for contracts that need signing.

"I'm not. Do you want me to leave?" 

Tony quirks his lips. "Eat your burger, Potts. It's getting cold."

**Two.**

They've just arrived at the restaurant when Melissa, the assistant of Rhodey's boss who they'd arranged to meet for a business lunch, calls her, apologising frantically through the phone. He's contracted food poisoning, apparently.

"Don't worry," Pepper interrupts the tirade of apologies, watching Tony fix his cufflinks as the maître d' approaches them. "Feel free to contact me when he's ready to reschedule."

_That _catches Tony's attention. He turns away and wiggles his eyebrows at her. "Did I just hear the R word?" 

"Yes, you did," she replies, clipped. She quickly sifts through her diary and pens a note in beside today's entry. "R&D are waiting on your latest schematics though, so don't think you're getting out of working today."

"Uh uh uh," Tony says, taking her by the shoulders and nodding at the maître d'. He leads them over to their reserved table even as Pepper sighs. "No point wasting a perfectly good table at a perfectly good restaurant, right?" 

"This was for a business meeting, Mr Stark." 

"We work together. That's business enough. Your finest bottle of white wine, and uh, let's just have one of everything, hell with it," he adds to the waiter.

"No, we don't need wine - "

"Two glasses," Tony says firmly, and the waiter nods and leaves them.

"Mr Stark," she says through gritted teeth. God, she hates him sometimes. "It's a Tuesday, I can't drink - "

"Says who? I'm your boss. You have my permission to take the day off tomorrow if you have a hangover." 

She rubs at her temples, already adding up how much _one of everything _will cost. Sure, he has so much money that he won't even blink when the bill comes, but she's the one that has to justify the expense to his accountant. Not to mention that sometimes it makes her feel sick to her stomach, partaking in frivolous spending when there are people out there who struggle to afford basic meals.

The waiter returns with their wine. They taste it, it _is _good, but she's still glaring daggers at him as he approves of it and the waiter fills their glasses. He leans back in the chair, top button of his shirt undone, tie fighting a losing battle against becoming a knot, the very picture of charm and old money.

"Live a little. C'mon. You work hard." 

She frowns. "I still have work to do, I don't have time to waste - "

"Spending time on yourself is never a waste," he says sagely. He lifts his glass to toast. "To you, Miss Potts." 

Pepper gives in and toasts him.

In the end, her stomach aching from all the food and her vision blurry at the edges from all the wine, she has to admit to herself that she's had a good time.

**Three.**

"Don't look now," Tony murmurs, "but we're being papped." 

Pepper sighs, dropping her head. They're in London, where she'd thought they might have a little bit of an easier time staying away from the cameras, but it seems they're drawn to Tony like magnets. 

They collect their coats and her purse from the cloakroom and she reaches out to make sure the lapels of his blazer are folded and neat. He runs a hand through his hair and gives her an easy grin. 

"How do I look?" 

_Like a billionaire, _she thinks idly, and says: "You look fine. Let's just get this over with."

The minute they're out the door, the flashes are blinding. She's grown immune to them during her time working for Tony Stark. The yelling, however, is something she doesn't think she'll ever get used to. Crowds of paparazzi are always so aggressive, even as Happy carves out a route for them to take straight to the car. 

"Mr Stark!" One of them yells. "Is this the future Mrs Stark?" 

The question makes her taste her heart in her mouth. She feels Tony's hand at the small of her back tense. Happy's still pushing against the crowd steadily, but it's too late. The mob has already noticed their reactions and they all pounce on the easy prey.

"Mr Stark! Mr Stark! How many women do you bring here?"

"Mr Stark! Will this one last more than one night?"

"Little Miss, give us a smile!"

Tony finally breaks, even as she turns to stop him. He's stone-faced and cold when he whips his sunglasses off. The paparazzi fall silent immediately, all waiting on him to give them a sound bite. 

Happy stands close behind her, glaring at anyone that gets too close. She clutches her purse anxiously as Tony continues staring, breathing heavily.

"This is Miss Pepper Potts. She's been working for me for _four _years," he says, emphasising the number. She worries her bottom lip. "You should've taken stock of her by now. She is my personal assistant. We are not dating. Nor will we ever date. That's all I have to say."

The words shouldn't cut as deeply as they do. She fights to calm her breathing as Tony turns and nods to happy. The crowd ripples with more questions but they all fall onto deaf ears as they finally get to the car and climb in. 

No-one speaks during the drive and Happy drops them off outside the hotel they're staying. There's no reporters waiting outside to hound them. She and Tony walk to their respective rooms and she hands him his keycard from her purse - they've been here for five days and he's already lost it twice - and he takes it, fingers brushing hers more than necessary. He smiles when she looks up at her.

"It wouldn't be so bad. You and me," he broaches quietly. "Would it?" 

Pepper swallows roughly. She knows he doesn't mean it; she's worked for him long enough to know that he flirts with everything that has a pulse.

In spite of that, she shakes her head.

"No. It wouldn't."

**Four.**

After six years of working for Tony, nothing he does really surprises her anymore. When she's called by a nurse at a local hospital - she's listed as his emergency contact, a fact she's already decided she'll dedicate all weekend trying to dissect - that he's stumbled in drunk and unaware of where he is, she sighs and peels herself out of bed and drives to collect him, but she isn't surprise.

"Pepper!" He lights up as she walks into the waiting room of the ER. "What're you doing here?" 

"Collecting you. Where's Happy? I thought he was on hand to pick you up tonight."

"Oh. I forgot."

He smiles up at her, that lazy curl of lip that drives her crazy, and she heads over to the front desk to thank the nurses for looking after him and keeping it quiet. Tony follows her out to her car as she calls Happy to inform him that she's found their boss and that no, she doesn't need his help and yes, she'll get him home safe.

"I'm hungry," Tony whines when they're halfway through the drive back to his house.

His voice makes her jump; she thought he'd passed out, cheek pressed against the window. He laughs. 

"Shut up," she says fondly, and soon enough catches sight of a twenty-four hour diner.

Tony practically falls through the door. She shepherds him into a booth and orders both of them coffee. Tony orders pancakes - _as many as you can stack on one plate, I'm serious, _he stresses - and sure enough, they return with almost a dozen pancakes stacked on top of one another and drowning in syrup. Tony ignores the coffee in front of him and dives straight in to the food.

"This is nice," he mumbles around a mouthful of food. She wrinkles her nose in distaste. "We should do this more often." 

"I could do without the four am wake up call, Mr Stark." 

His eyes widen. "It's four? Miss Potts, you have work in three hours."

She laughs wearily, rubbing a hand over her eyes. 

"My job's pretty much a hands-on, twenty-four hour gig."

"That sucks. Make sure your boss gives you a raise."

It doesn't _feel _like working, though, as she sits here and watches him lick spilled syrup from his thumb. This Tony - the one who won't remember this in the morning - is the kindest version that she knows. There's something that uninhibited about him in the best way. If he were in front of a crowd, he would be awful, and be papped staggering out of a club with a girl on each arm and a scandalous quote that'll end up on the front page. With her, he's almost innocent. 

So, yeah, she's tired and relying on the coffee she's drinking but spending time with him like this leaves her the exhausted kind of happy. She laughs with him as the sun begins to rise on the city, painting everything orange, even this small diner where they're alone together. 

"Pepper," Tony groans once he's made his way through the stack, leaning back in his seat, syrup clinging to the edges of his lips. Sometimes it's hard to remind herself it'd be a bad idea to lean forward and kiss the syrup away, to taste the sweetness inside of his mouth. "You're the best."

"I know," she murmurs, leaning forward to clean it away with her thumb. 

**Five.**

"Excuse me, Mr Iron Man?"

Pepper watches the way Tony smiles before he's even turned to the little girl who's approached them at the bar. She has her hair in pigtails and is wearing an Iron Man t-shirt that Pepper doesn't recognise as licensed merchandise. She'll have to get on to their copyrights team about that.

The little girl holds up a toy Iron Man mask. This, to Pepper's relief, she recognises as official merchandise. "Will you sign this?" 

"Sure can. What's your name?" 

"Marie."

"Marie. That's a great name," he tells her as he takes the mask and scrawls his signature on it, along with the words _dream big, Iron Girl. _"You know one of the smartest women in the world was called Marie?" 

She hugs the mask to her chest. "Thank you, Mr Iron Man!"

Marie dashes back over to her parents, who are waiting with matching grins at their table. Pepper watches Tony's eyes follow after the little girl. This has been happening more and more lately: being approached by children instead of blondes with a lot of chest on display. She's still not entirely sure what to name the feeling in her chest when she watches Tony interact with each one of them, his usual witty self, but kind and patient with them all.

"What?" Tony asks when he catches her looking at him. 

"Nothing," she replies quickly, turning back to the bar and picking at the nachos they're sharing. "Anyway, as I was saying about the Expo - "

"Ugh. Boring." 

"I never thought I'd see the day you bore of hearing about yourself," she replies archly. 

"But you don't wanna talk about _me. _You want to talk about capacity. Boring," he repeats, drawing out the last word. He dips a nacho in too much chilli and his face goes red. "Pepper - "

She thumps him on the back and waves the server bartender down for a glass of water. He takes it and downs it in one, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand after. 

"You know what we need to go with these? Tequila." 

"What? Tony, no - " 

He's already ordering them half a dozen shots, not paying the slightest bit of attention to her protests. 

"C'mon, Pepper, when's the last time we had fun together?" He asks.

She knows the answer. Two months before Afghanistan, they'd gone for drinks after he'd closed a deal. Happy had had to collect them both, she tipsy and he drunk, at the end of the night. They'd bickered on the drive home about something she can't remember anymore. Drink had made laughter easy and he'd looked so delectable with his hair falling in his face. She'd realised she was in love with him.

The bartender returns with the tray full of shots. Tony shakes the salt on her hand, shushing her protests, and then she gives in - what the hell, it's a Friday - and licks up the salt, knocks back the shot, and sucks on a lemon slice.

Tony clears his throat, thumping his sternum as she winces. She's always hated tequila. 

"Jeez. Been a long time since I did one of those," he comments, frowning. "It's more sour than I remember."

As he reaches for the next, the chime of a notification she's come to recognise as his equivalent of a Bat-Signal dings between them. Tony frowns, withdrawing his phone from his jacket pocket, before he slips off the stool.

"Duty calls."

"Tony, you just did a shot, that can't be safe." 

"I'll be fine," he dismisses her with the wave of a hand. "Hey, I'll give you a bonus if you do all of those shots by yourself."

Pepper sighs, watching him go. She does another two shots by herself; it's hard watching him willingly walk off to active combat zones, after all.

**One.**

She fusses.

Pepper's never been one for agonising over an outfit before a date, but this feels different. She switches her top three times, deliberates over the pros and cons of wearing a skirt, and shoves half of her closet into the trash before she finally settles on a simple baby blue sweater and a pair of white jeans.

"You look amazing," Tony says when he arrives, stumbling over his feet.

"Tony - "

"I don't think I've ever seen you in jeans before." 

She glances down at her legs. "No. You haven't." 

"Or seen your apartment. Which is also amazing, by the way."

"Are those for me?" She asks, gesturing to the bouquet of flowers in his hands to save him from himself.

"Oh. Yeah." He shoves them at her. "For you." 

He's never bought flowers for one of his girls before, she's always the one who's had to organise that for him. She wonders if he's bought these himself. She pushes the thought away - there's no point comparing, they're in this now, it's too late to think on the past - and accepts them. They're sunflowers. How wonderfully him.

"Thank you. Come in." 

Tony follows her through, taking in every last detail of her apartment as she rummages for a vase. She already knows he's committing it all to memory. Probably thinking of some ways to improve it, too. God knows there's nothing Tony loves more than a project.

"Pepper?" 

She's placing the flowers in the vase. She glances up. "Yes?" 

He's standing in the middle of her living room, looking more lost than she's ever seen before. He clears his throat.

"I just wanted to check that... well, this_ is_ a date. We're on the same page here, aren't we?" 

"Yes, Tony," she confirms. She understands. It's been nine days since the kiss on the rooftop. She's been too busy navigating the aftermath - preparing statements on behalf of the company about the casualties; drawing up contracts to honour the innocent lives lost during the fight; giving her statement on Hammer to the police - to spend any time with him. To even think about what's going on between them, this _them._ "It's a date."

He crosses the room and draws her into his arms immediately. When he kisses her, she rests her hands on his shoulders. 

"A date with Pepper Potts. What does that entail?" 

"Takeaway pizza and a bad movie. Maybe some wine. It's what I need after this past week," she sighs, playing with the baby hairs at the nape of his neck. "That okay?" 

He's already leaning in to kiss her again. This time there's a little more fire to it. She's almost ready to skip the obligatory cuddling on the couch and lead him straight to her bedroom, but then her stomach rumbles loudly and he pulls away, grinning.

"Best date ever," he declares. 

In flats, she's the same height as him. She presses a kiss to his cheek, running a thumb along his jaw. There's so much love tumbling around inside of her.

"And the first of many more," she decides.


End file.
